Category Archives: Health

Australia Covid live news update: Scott Morrison announces increase to support payments as NSW records 11th death of outbreak

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NSW records 177 local cases, lockdown extended four weeks; single bubbles now allowed in greater Sydney; those on welfare support now eligible for federal disaster payments, NSW premier says; Victoria records eight local cases overnight, and a new local, non-quarantined case today. Follow all the day’s news

And here’s the video of Scott Morrison comparing the vaccine take-up to a gold medal run at the Olympics earlier today:

Reviews of rapid Covid-19 tests in Australia have found markedly different results in their effectiveness, but experts say the New South Wales government’s decision to employ them in schools and essential workplaces will help to control the virus.

Michael McGowan has this story after NSW announced that rapid tests would be used during Sydney’s continuing lockdown.

Related: Cautious welcome for rapid antigen tests to control Sydney Covid outbreak, despite reliability concerns

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UK poised to end amber list quarantine for people vaccinated in US and EU

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Ministers to discuss plans, with talks also to determine if they will apply to England only or all UK nations

Plans to significantly open up international travel are expected to be announced on Wednesday, with UK ministers poised to let people who have been fully vaccinated in the US and EU avoid quarantine if arriving from amber list countries.

The move would benefit millions of people by finally letting them be reunited with family and friends based in the UK, as well as businesses in the aviation and tourism sectors that have been hit hard by the pandemic.

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Sydney Covid lockdown restrictions: update to Orange and regional NSW coronavirus rules explained

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Covid restrictions for greater Sydney, including residents in the Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland and Blacktown LGAs, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong to be extended, with lockdown set to lift for Orange, Blayney and Cabonne local government areas in the state’s central west. Here’s the full list of what you can and can’t do in NSW

Sydney’s lockdown is expected to continue beyond 30 July, but there will be some changes to the rules.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, is expected to announce a four-week extension to the lockdown on Wednesday, where it is understood she will also outline eased restrictions for the construction industry.

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Australia Covid live update: Victoria premier Dan Andrews eases lockdown after 10 new cases; Gladys Berejiklian confirms 172 local cases in NSW

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SA to exit lockdown at midnight; NSW records 172 local Covid-19 cases overnight; Victoria lockdown to ease from midnight after state records 10 cases; Queensland records no new cases overnight. Follow all the day’s news

NSW press conference:

Inevitable Berejiklian is now being grill over Victoria’s sucsess which many are viewing as proof that NSW’s lockdown was too little, too late.

Victoria is now coming out of lockdown. Have they now shown us up? Should we have gone down harder and faster? They’ve done two weeks, we’re here in week five, and with no sign of things slowing down.

Oh look, I think it’s important to note that every state has had its own course during the pandemic.

Victoria is emerging out of its fifth lockdown, and I appreciate appreciate people want to make comparisons, but it’s also important to note that every state has had its own course. Every state has its own history of how they’re built with the pandemic.

Melbourne: schools, restaurants and bars open.
Sydney: 172 cases. Highest case number since the borders were shut and edging towards the 200 record.

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Covid tests being flown interstate for diagnosis as Sydney is swamped

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With daily tests in NSW hovering around 100,000, pathology turnaround times are being pushed back as residents wait in isolation

Tens of thousands of Covid nasal test swabs are being put on planes and flown from hotspots in New South Wales to be processed in Brisbane and other cities, with labs in Sydney still “drowning” from record testing turnouts that have led to result wait times of up to 10 days.

As daily testing numbers hover around 100,000 in NSW, a backlog in processing swabs in Sydney continues to force people into isolation, with Guardian Australia aware of an essential worker abandoning their vaccine appointment as they await a negative result.

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‘I advise everyone to get it’: UK Covid patients tell of regrets over refusing jab

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Doctors say most patients now arriving in intensive care are unvaccinated, and deeply regret their decision

For some people, the moment the ambulance arrives is the time they start expressing regrets about not receiving a coronavirus vaccine. For others, it’s the death of a loved one.

Healthcare workers and Covid patients have spoken out about growing numbers who, once faced with the serious reality of catching the virus, realise that they made a huge mistake.

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Covid: more EU states to restrict venue access for unvaccinated people

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Ireland and Italy among those joining France in requiring vaccine passes to enter bars and restaurants

An increasing number of European governments are planning to prevent unvaccinated people from being able to attend hospitality venues such as bars and restaurants this summer, as Emmanuel Macron celebrates the fruits of the recent announcement of the policy in France.

France on Monday passed the threshold of 40 million people having received at least one vaccine dose – close to 60% of the population. Macron tweeted: “Together we will defeat the virus. We continue!”

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Australia Covid live update: Sydney to open walk-in AstraZeneca clinics as NSW records 145 cases; Victoria records 11; Queensland and SA record one new local case each

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NSW reports 145 local Covid-19 cases overnight; no lockdown announcement for Victoria today after 11 new local cases recorded; SA to lift lockdown from midnight tomorrow and another vaccine record. Follow the latest updates

Brittany Higgins has welcomed the government’s decision to accept all 10 recommendations of the Foster review into how federal parliament responds to serious incidents.

The government put out a press release announcing this earlier today.

I am so pleased to hear that all 10 recommendations of the Foster Review will be implemented.

These reforms, most notably the independent complaints mechanism, will ensure Parliament House is a safer workplace for all future employees. https://t.co/wNNkVy4y9D

Sydney Covid crisis could take months to recede if other outbreaks are anything to go by - depressing read (but with good charts) from @joshcnicholas looking at peaks and troughs of covid waves https://t.co/slr3A5O9gX pic.twitter.com/4zR7STbB3i

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Over 450 key workers with long Covid tell MPs of their struggles

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Nurses, teachers, GPs and police officers among those to give evidence to cross-party inquiry

More than 450 key workers with long Covid have told a cross-party parliamentary inquiry of their experiences of the condition, including struggles to return to work and lack of financial support, with one in 10 having lost their job.

Nurses, teachers, GPs, police officers and midwives were among those who shared their experience of long Covid, symptoms of which include debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pains, sleeping difficulties and brain fog.

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Virtual contact worse than no contact for over-60s in lockdown, says study

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Staying in touch with friends and family via technology made many older people feel more lonely, research finds

Virtual contact during the pandemic made many over-60s feel lonelier and more depressed than no contact at all, new research has found.

Many older people stayed in touch with family and friends during lockdown using the phone, video calls, and other forms of virtual contact. Zoom choirs, online book clubs and virtual bedtime stories with grandchildren helped many stave off isolation.

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Dietary supplements causing severe liver injuries in Australians, with some requiring transplants, study shows

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Researchers say cases linked to products claiming to promote muscle growth or weight loss are rising and more rigorous oversight is needed

The number of patients being admitted to hospital with severe liver injuries caused by herbal and dietary supplements claiming to promote muscle growth or weight loss is increasing, with some people harmed so severely they required a liver transplant.

A study led by Dr Emily Nash from the Royal Prince Alfred hospital examined hospital records of 184 adults admitted to the AW Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Centre with drug-induced liver injury between 2009 and 2020. She and her co-authors found liver injury cases linked to herbal and dietary supplements increased from two out of 11 patients (15%) during 2009–11, to 10 out of 19 patients (47%) during 2018–20.

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‘Seriously ill’ young people in current Covid admissions, expert warns

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‘We have had people under 30 in intensive care,’ says Prof Adam Finn of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation

Young people are getting “seriously ill” from Covid-19, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has warned, as he urged them to get vaccinated.

Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol, said there have been close to 200 admissions, with a mean age of 40, in the city during the Delta variant wave. England’s remaining Covid restrictions were eased on Monday and pictures of crowded nightclubs, filled with revellers not wearing masks or social distancing, have raised fears among some experts that infections could surge among unvaccinated young people.

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Fears for Covid vaccine drive if second doses clash with boosters

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Risk that low take-up by young will lead to crunch as older people get third shot

Health experts have warned the government that it needs to increase efforts to ensure more young adults are vaccinated against Covid-19 – as a matter of urgency.

They fear the current low take-up of jabs among 18- to 25-year-olds could lead to a pile-up of vaccine campaigns in September, when other groups are scheduled to get booster injections and also to be inoculated against influenza. In addition, they argue that vaccines also have a crucial role to play in protecting young adults against long Covid, which is now recognised as a serious problem associated with the disease.

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Europe clamps down amid fears over rapid spread of Delta variant

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Governments are launching de facto vaccine passport schemes as they try to head off a summer Covid wave like the UK’s

With the school term finally over, Britons are flying to Europe in their tens of thousands, record levels for this Covid year. They are arriving in countries where the Delta variant paralysing Britain is just becoming dominant – and Europe is responding by clamping down.

Some countries have tightened border controls, with Malta barring entry to unvaccinated travellers and Germany bringing in stricter quarantine rules for people arriving from Spain and the Netherlands. More broadly, authorities from Greece to Italy and France to Portugal are bringing in what are effectively vaccine passports for a wide range of activities, although most are shying away from using that term, which has become incendiary.

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Is medical cannabis really a magic bullet?

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Research increasingly suggests that extracts from the plant are effective in treating pain, anxiety, epilepsy and more, but experts still preach caution around recreational use

In 2017, Mikael Sodergren, a liver and pancreatic cancer surgeon at Imperial College healthcare NHS trust, was finding himself becoming increasingly interested in the potential role of medical cannabis in treating pain, especially the discomfort experienced by patients after complex operations.

“I hope that I do a lot of good, but unfortunately in the short term, I inflict a lot of pain with cancer surgery,” says Sodergren. “So we’re reliant on pretty nasty painkillers, such as high-strength intravenous opioids, which we’re trying to move away from. They slow patients down and they cause complications.”

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Sage adviser claims ministers trying to get as many as possible infected with Covid

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Exclusive: Prof Robert West says rhetoric about caution is ‘a way of putting blame on public’

A scientist advising the government has accused ministers of allowing infections to rip through the younger population in an effort to bolster levels of immunity before the NHS faces winter pressures.

The allegation comes after England’s remaining Covid restrictions were eased on Monday, with nightclubs throwing open their doors for the first time in the pandemic and all rules on social distancing and mask wearing dropped even as infections run high.

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France fiasco to pingdemic U-turn: Boris Johnson’s week of chaos

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In the last seven days the UK government has flailed from one controversy or misstep to the next

Often, the political week heading into the Commons summer recess can feel almost soporific, with the thoughts of ministers and MPs geared more towards holiday sunbeds than rows. But the last seven days has been different, and not only because of the ongoing political flux of coronavirus, with the government seeming to flail from one controversy, U-turn or misstep to the next, day after day.

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Australia coronavirus live news: 136 new cases announced in NSW Covid update; Victoria records 14 cases; Pfizer vaccine approved for 12-15 year olds

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Premier Gladys Berejiklian says 53 of the new cases were infectious in the community; northern NSW on alert after Covid fragments found in Byron Bay sewage; national cabinet to meet to discuss vaccine rollout. Follow live

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant is back after a few days, and she is speaking to the tighter restrictions she has recommended.

Chant said:

I have advised the government today that this is a national emergency and requires additional measures to reduce the case numbers. What we are seeing is that the actions we have taken to date have averted many cases.

But what we are not seeing is the turnaround that we would have liked to see at this stage. And I’m concerned that we need to put in place urgent additional measures, what I’m recommending strongly is that our vaccination efforts are refocused on those affected LGAs. Every day, people from those LGAs have to go out to work to keep our city going.

We also know that, as I indicated that the group of workers that keep the society going is this group of workers in the 20 to 49 year old age group in south-western Sydney. Under 40s would not have been routinely eligible for vaccination, in terms of Pfizer. And what I’ve recommended to government is we urgently do mass vaccination of those workers to stem the transmission risk. We know the vaccines do that because they reduce the risk. If you’re vaccinated, even one dose, it reduces your risk of onward transmission.

Gladys Berejiklian has announced a new Covid death in her state, a 89-year-old male.

Details of the death are brief as the death is recent (it happened after 8pm last night) and authorities want to make sure family members have been notified.

I also want to say that tragically, as we see more cases, develop, we will also see more hospitalisations and more people in intensive care and regrettably, we did have an additional death overnight, which I’ve only just learned about.

I just want to foreshadow that unfortunately, we’re going to see more of this as the case numbers increase.

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Aid is not helping development in Tanzania | Letter

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The country is one of the largest recipients of western aid, and yet poverty and unemployment remain rife, write two healthcare professionals

In response to Benny Dembitzer’s letter (20 July), we are currently working in Tanzania, one of the largest recipients of western aid in the world. We are doing research with the Hadza people, investigating the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in that population. In comparison to our observations from 2018, it appears that very little development has occurred in Tanzania. If anything, Tanzanians appear to be poorer and there appears to be more unemployed people now, which, given the challenges of Covid, is even more worrying. This highlights that the current aid model is not fit for purpose and western governments should rethink the way they support Tanzania and other countries urgently.

In the medical field, we are finding that progress has been halted, and probably reversed. One of the causes is that the rich world takes so many doctors, nurses and other health professionals from the developing world. Countries such as Tanzania have educated these professionals at their expense. We collect the ripe fruits.
Dennis Ougrin and Emma Woodhouse
London

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Rates of double-jabbed people in hospital will grow – but that does not mean Covid vaccines are failing

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Several factors, including the portion of those at highest risk among the double-vaccinated and antibody levels, account for the data

The next wave of Covid will be different. When cases soared in spring and winter last year lockdowns rapidly brought them back under control. This time it will be vaccines that do the hard work.

But Covid jabs are not a perfect shield. They slow the spread of the virus, help prevent disease, and reduce the risk of dying. They do not bring all this to an end.

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